NYU College Republicans' "Find the Illegal Immigrant" Causes Uproar

It is well known for NYU's College Republicans to stage controversial and provocative events guaranteed to receive local and national coverage and anger the liberal left campus groups and organisations.

Today, the student group is sponsoring a contest called "Find the Illegal Immigrant" - a mock hunt for a student posing as just that. It is to be held in Washington Square Park (NYC) from 11AM to 2PM. The student posing as the illegal immigrant will wear a name tag saying so. Other students will try to find him or her, playing the part of border patrol agents and wearing nametags that say "INS," referring to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

College Republicans president and CAS junior Sarah Chambers said, "The event will open up both vocally and physically the issue of illegal immigration. That it's not right to come here illegally while others are waiting to come here legally and receive free health care and jobs that undercut wages of American workers and people that are living here legally."

As usual, reaction from student groups such as ACLU at NYU, the College Democrats, and several multicultural clubs was far from pleasing. The groups plan to organise a protest, and they expect several hundred to attend.

College Democrats president and CAS senior Nora Toiv said, "The event is offensive because by playing a game like this, you make light of a real-life situation. To ridicule what is often a very traumatic experience is hateful."

Senior Democratic senator from New York, Charles Schumer, said in an event yesterday promoting his book, "Positively American":
What I really find obnoxious - and that's how I'd describe what the College Republicans are doing - is it dehumanizes [illegal immigrants]," the senator told WSN during a question-and-answer session after his speech. "A person who's making a dollar a day in Oaxaca, who risks their life to come and make two dollars an hour here in America, is not to be ridiculed. It's not to be despised. So what I think they're doing is obnoxious."

Toiv said the College Democrats' largest objection to the event is in the way it has been presented.

Protesters from the various other groups will be carrying signs and handing out pamphlets stating "No one is illegal" and calling the event "completely unacceptable."

The event has already garnered attention from national media such as CNN, Fox News, NPR, and talk radio.

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Due to incidents with the Minutemen event last year, Toiv wants to make sure the protest is done peacefully. If a riot breaks out again where students are injured, it will make the protestors the assailants and their protest would fail. I am sure some radical leftists would point to the Republicans' event as a catalyst, but they have the right to stage the event, no matter how offensive it could be. Likewise, other groups can protest the event, but if they cause a riot, it's their fault.

I really doubt that this event can be construed as racist. Illegal immigration is a major problem on voters' minds. I have no problems with people legally coming into this country to work and receive education and benefits. I only have a problem when they try to sneak around the guards, use faulty documentation to get into this country, and not paying their fair share.

It is not about focusing on any one particular ethnic group. There are Asians, Mexicans, Latin and South American, Cubans, and even Europeans that try to get into our country through illegal means. This issue must be faced head on.

How can this be any different? If you sneak into a Dave Matthews concert without a ticket and get caught, you get kicked out and possibly get arrested. You did not have the proper papers to attend the event, so it is justified for security to remove you from the venue.

If you come into country without proper documentation, the law enforcement agencies have the right to deport you. This is simple logic.

The College Republicans' event is helping revive this debate because the Democrats, the ACLU, and the other groups refuse to do so. Yep, it's a publicity stunt. It is guaranteed to generate coverage and debate. I think they ought to cancel the event because their PR stunt has been a success.

As with Schumer's comment, it is true that there are people who risk their lives to come to this country to enjoy a better life, but does it excuse them from the ones that come to this country legally? Is he telling me that it is better for an illegal immigrant to come into this country and get a better deal to benefits and citizenship than a legal immigrant? Has anyone asked immigrant advocates about the opinions of immigrants who have legally entered this country?

I have also ventured across the blogosphere and everyone is pretty much accusing the College Republicans for being racist. (Example) How can this be racist? This blogger called himself an intelligent, active, and anti-racist person calling on others to protest this event. We really love to say that's racist because it generates an automated reaction from the populace. In this blog, you have to question if those photos are true. Did they come from a Minutemen rally or a Nazi protest?

Here's one student's take on it.

The slogans "No one is illegal" or "World without borders" are nonsense words. You can not say these words as absolutes. I bet that most people signing up to protest were told word of mouth by organisers who are against the event and are willing to call it racist just to increase the turnout. Somehow people just fail to stand back, do some research on it, look at the viewpoints on why the CR club is doing this event and why people are against it, and make an informed decision. Ahh, the power of the mob at work.

The national media attention is pretty much overkill. It's like this event is not the first of its kind.

In any case, I applaud NYU for allowing this tasteless event to be held. This helps support our freedom to free speech especially politically incorrect speech. We should not let those individuals who want to redefine free speech to make it acceptable to their agenda.

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NYU officials released a statement explaining why the college is allowing the game. Spokesman John Beckman writes:

"At universities, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas – even difficult and unpopular ideas – is a key mission. We hope the debates will be conducted with respect and civility, and will be driven by an impulse to provoke thought rather than anger. Illegal immigration is a totally appropriate topic for debate, though this event seems principally calculated to produce outraged reaction rather than dialogue.

"Our inclination is always to support free speech. Just as one group of students will conduct this so-called 'game,' others will be protesting it. At a university, this is exactly the kind of outcome we hope for from engaged students and scholars."